(Southern Lord)

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Is there any doubt that Dave Grohl rocks at this point? I mean, the guy bashed skins mightily for Nirvana who, love them or hate them, turned the music world upside down. He switched to guitar, vocals and funny frontman for the Foo Fighters, a poppy but damn solid hard rock band. And then switched back to drums for Queens of the Stone Age, with bouts alongside everyone from Tony Iommi to Brian May in between. An impressive pedigree? Er… duh! So what's left? How about a death metal side-project uniting him with every famed frontman from the doom, thrash, hardcore genre? Does that solidify his rock street cred? I think so… and then some!

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On Probot, Grohl plays virtually every instrument and invites a different singer to join him for each tune. From Venom's crooner Cronos (on the awesome "Centuries of Sin") to Sepultura/Soulfly screamer Max Cavalera (on the bludgeoning "Red War") to Corrosion of Conformity's Mike Dean (who kills on "Access Babylon") to DRI's Kurt Brecht (on the maniacal "Silent Spring"), this is a who's who of underground legends, and each one turns in a magnificent performance. "Dictatosaurus" is a sludgy burner that Voi Vod's Snake sounds perfect on, while Obsessed guitarist/vocalist Wino lays down some might mean leads on "The Emerald City." Grohl even unearths Cathedral's Lee Dorrian for "Ice Cold Man," Trouble's Eric Wagner for " My Tortured Soul" and Celtic Frost's Tom G. Warrior for "Big Sky."

Of course, no one is gonna top King Diamond in terms of sheer over-the-topness, and on "Sweet Dreams," Diamond proves why he is the King with his operatic, air raid siren wail. It's…well… incredible. So who trumps a King? Why, God, of course. And he shows up here as Lemmy on the album's single and most accessible track, the smokin' "Shake Your Blood." There is a reason Motorhead rule, and Lemmy is it.

If you didn't want to be Dave Grohl before Probot, then you have 11 good reasons to want to be him now. A stunning move from a true artist.

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